diff --git a/src/sync/compact.py b/src/sync/compact.py
index bee7aee..bdb0883 100644
--- a/src/sync/compact.py
+++ b/src/sync/compact.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import time
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 
 from .config import SyncConfig
+from .logging_setup import setup_compact_log
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -31,6 +32,9 @@ log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 # it supports both .mdb (Jet) and .accdb (ACE) formats.
 _DAO_PROGID = "DAO.DBEngine.120"
 
+# Guard: only set up the compact file handler once per process.
+_compact_log_ready = False
+
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------ result types
 
@@ -264,7 +268,15 @@ def compact_files(cfg: SyncConfig,
     When *dry_run* is True, only checks file accessibility and lock status
     without modifying anything. Each file is compacted independently; one
     failure does not abort the run.
+
+    Logs are written to a dedicated ``logs/compact.log`` file (separate from
+    ``sync.log``) with the same rotation and daily-archive semantics.
     """
+    global _compact_log_ready
+    if not _compact_log_ready:
+        setup_compact_log(cfg.logging)
+        _compact_log_ready = True
+
     if dry_run:
         return compact_dry_run(cfg, db_filter=db_filter, file_list=file_list)
 
diff --git a/src/sync/logging_setup.py b/src/sync/logging_setup.py
index d331838..d857742 100644
--- a/src/sync/logging_setup.py
+++ b/src/sync/logging_setup.py
@@ -169,3 +169,42 @@ def setup_logging(cfg_dict: dict | None):
     # Console keeps the short format (fullsync/compare are interactive there).
     sh.setFormatter(logging.Formatter("%(levelname)s %(message)s"))
     root.addHandler(sh)
+
+
+def setup_compact_log(cfg_dict: dict | None):
+    """Configure a dedicated file handler for the ``sync.compact`` logger.
+
+    Writes to ``logs/compact.log`` with the same rotation and daily-archive
+    semantics as ``sync.log``, but kept in a separate file so compact audit
+    trail is isolated and easy to grep. The logger does NOT propagate to the
+    root logger — compact messages go to ``compact.log`` only (console output
+    is handled by ``main.py``'s ``print()`` calls, not by this handler).
+    """
+    level = getattr(logging, (cfg_dict or {}).get("level", "INFO")) if cfg_dict else logging.INFO
+    sync_path = (cfg_dict or {}).get("path", "sync.log")
+    log_dir = os.path.dirname(sync_path) or "."
+    os.makedirs(log_dir, exist_ok=True)
+
+    compact_path = os.path.join(log_dir, "compact.log")
+    # Archive yesterday's compact.log using the same logic as sync.log.
+    _archive_completed_logs(log_dir, os.path.basename(compact_path))
+
+    cl = logging.getLogger("sync.compact")
+    cl.setLevel(level)
+    cl.propagate = False  # do NOT duplicate into sync.log
+
+    # Idempotent: drop existing handlers before re-adding.
+    for old in list(cl.handlers):
+        cl.removeHandler(old)
+        try:
+            old.close()
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+
+    fh = logging.handlers.RotatingFileHandler(
+        compact_path, maxBytes=10 * 1024 * 1024, backupCount=5, encoding="utf-8"
+    )
+    fh.setFormatter(logging.Formatter(
+        "%(asctime)s %(levelname)s [%(name)s] %(message)s"
+    ))
+    cl.addHandler(fh)